Northeye: Investigation into Home Office purchase of East Sussex site earmarked for immigration detention centre

The National Audit Office (NAO), which holds the Government to account for its spending decisions, said the department paid £15.2 million for Northeye in Bexhill.

An NAO spokesperson said: “In December 2022, the then-Prime Minister made a statement to Parliament in which he pledged that the Home Office would abolish the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023 and end the use of hotels to house people seeking asylum. The Government sought to secure alternatives to hotels by renting houses and flats in residential areas, and by developing large sites such as disused military bases.

“The Home Office sought to identify and acquire large sites at pace, and in March 2023 it exchanged contracts with the vendors of the Northeye site in Bexhill with the intention of developing accommodation for non-detained asylum seekers. However, it subsequently decided the site was unsuitable for this purpose. The Home Office completed its purchase of the site for £15.2 million in September 2023. No work to develop the site has yet begun.

“We will set out the facts about the Home Office’s purchase of the Northeye site, including the process followed by the Home Office and to what extent this differed from standard practice.”

The plans for Northeye have attracted widespread opposition from residents since they were unveiled last year.

Last summer, the Home Office confirmed if the plans for Northeye were to go ahead, the site would be used for ‘detained’ purposes only, meaning that asylum seekers residing there would not be free to come and go.

Northeye is one of several sites chosen by the Home Office for accommodation centres for asylum seekers to be built.

Since the plans for Northeye were first unveiled, several protests have been held in Bexhill, organised by the No to Northeye group.

Last September, a petition signed by more than 2,000 people opposing Government plans to turn Northeye into a centre for asylum seekers, was handed to Rother District Council by the No to Northeye group, calling on the authority to oppose the plans by the Home Office.

Nigel Jacklin, campaign group leader of No to Northeye, said: “Many of us were shocked by the price the Home Office paid for the site. All we really want is an end to the uncertainty. We want the Home Office to confirm that they are not going to use the site. That will put residents’ minds at rest.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “We are considering options for the site and will take a view on its future use in due course.”